


Your Road To Ruin

by SyverneSien



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, BASICALLY X33N AND KARA BECOME THE DARKNESS AND THE LIGHT, Dimension Travel, Gen, Non-Graphic Violence, Not Beta Read, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Portals, Realm of Mianite, does it also fit too well with the canon of mianitian isles? yes, i dont know how to explain this, is it weird and self-indulgent? yes, tags will update as the story progresses so stay tuned, x33n makes a VERY GOOD villain okay and i just love kara
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:33:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26598373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SyverneSien/pseuds/SyverneSien
Summary: X33N finds himself catapulted into a dark, lifeless world that is not his own. The dark energy from the slowly-forming world takes a liking to him, granting him immortality and strange powers that he doesn't understand, but the first thing he does is wish for a friend - and his prayer is answered when Kara falls out of the sky, equally confused but willing to join together with X33N to find a way home. Over time it becomes clear that Kara has similar powers, despite having no connection to the dark energy, and as the two new gods set about changing this wasteland into something that resembles their old world out of longing, creating plants and animals and people, their roles in this world become increasingly more clear. But of course, everything changes when CaptainSparklez, Syndicate, and Lrakinidas wash up on the very same beach as X33N and Kara had thousands of years earlier, and X33N is faced with the realization that he might be the villain in this story.
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 27





	1. The World-Before-The-World

X33N had barely a second to brace himself before he collided with the pitch-black water, every nerve in his body jumping to life with the shocking cold. He floundered against the waves, forcing his head above the surface and gasping for air, brown eyes wild as he searched for some sort of saviour. He wasn’t a bad swimmer, but he had just been catapulted through what had seemed to be some sort of interdimensional (judging by the inky black sky above his head with no stars and no moon) portal into an incredibly cold ocean, so he was allowed to flounder a bit while trying to keep himself alive. Through the thick fog that ghosted over the surface of the water, X33N caught a glimpse of a mass that might have been an island up ahead and, void of any other options, started to swim towards it as best he could with the ocean currents competing for his attention.

With a final burst of energy, X33N plunged his head beneath the water and pushed through the waves. He hauled himself up onto the eerie black sand and collapsed, exhausted, on his back. Wisps of smoke drifted over his face as he caught his breath, trying to figure out where he was and what was going on. It was too dark, too strangely quiet, to be his world… and the purple-blue portal that had sucked him into the ground and dropped him into the ocean just screamed ‘interdimensional wormhole’ to him, even though it was _impossible._ Portals didn’t just show up and throw people into other worlds, but since it had happened to him, it must have been possible. Somehow. _Maybe this is what happens when people are ‘abducted by aliens’._

After getting up, the first thing that X33N noticed about his new world was that it was deafeningly quiet. Even the slapping over waves on the beach was almost silent. Animals and plants were nonexistent. There was just sand, rock, and water as far as X33N could see, which, to be fair, wasn’t very far. Chilling darkness settled at the edge of his vision, cutting off his view of anything further than a few feet around him. Perhaps it was the shock of falling, but his first thought was that it reminded him of the blindness effect in Minecraft. If he just had a flashlight…

In a stroke of self-proclaimed genius, X33N remembered the phone in his pocket and fished it out, hoping that his waterproof case hadn’t failed him. At first glance, the phone seemed fine, but as he went to turn it on, it crumbled into black dust in his hand. X33N bit his lip, unsure of what to do next. His ultimate goal was to get back home, of course… but with no sounds of any kind of life and a barren wasteland with not even a single resource as his base, things were not looking good.

* * *

X33N resigned himself to camping in a dark (everything was dark, _why was it so dark?)_ cave, out of the wind and sheltered from the waves. There were no trees to build a shelter or any tools out of - and that meant no fire as well, though, for some reason, X33N did not find himself shivering, even after his dip into the icy sea. The list of odd things only grew bigger as time passed, lengthening to include a lack of need for food and water, a lack of exhaustion, and his vision becoming clearer and more green, almost, as if he were wearing night-vision goggles. He couldn’t tell how many days it had been since he’d fallen, without a day-night cycle, but with every blessing that time brought to aid him in surviving in this new world, his loneliness increased tenfold. X33N had never been a social man but he loved his friends and his community, and now it was all gone and he had no idea how to get back. It was just him, alone, with not even a fish to share in his distress.

X33N caught his first glimpse of what he would come to call dark matter about, by his best guess, five days after his fall. A startling flash of colour - blue and purple and even a pinch of red - through the water beneath his fingertips, causing him to pull his hand back and fall onto the sand, shocked. Once he had seen it for the first time, he began to see it everywhere - in cracks between rocks, in the sky, in the fog, and in the water again, and every time he desperately avoided touching it. Something about it made him feel uneasy - it just felt _wrong,_ no matter how curious it made him. But it was the only thing around that seemed to have any semblance of life. The worst part about it was how unnoticeable it could be, and X33N had a nagging worry in the back of his mind that he might have already come in contact with it during his fall, and it might be the cause of his strange lack of desperation for nutrition (among other things). Those trains of thought caused him nothing but fear, but fear was better than a bitter longing for home.

Once, while swimming, X33N’s foot became caught underneath a rock and he was unable to reach the surface. He could feel his air running out as he attempted to tug his leg out from where it was stuck, but when he was sure his time was up, he did not drown. Instead, he simply continued to be, not breathing but not dying, and with a burst of confusion-and-desperation-fueled adrenaline, he managed to wrench his foot out and shoot up to the surface. His foot didn’t hurt, either, and once he reached the shore again, he knew his memory of the encounter would never leave him. He hadn’t died. He had been trapped underwater for far longer than a regular human could survive, and _he hadn’t died._ The entire experience felt like one long nightmare, one that he hoped he would wake up from soon. Or maybe it was even some kind of simulation, like something out of a sci-fi movie. He didn’t want to face the reality that something was definitely happening to him. X33N didn’t want to think about the fact that he might not be _human_ anymore.

X33N finally indulged his curiosity about the dark matter after two weeks, when he’d slowly come to terms with the fact that he did not have a way home, not even through death. If there was any chance of coming up with an escape route, he needed to investigate the only ‘living’ thing around - the technicolour sludge that lurked around every corner. It took only a few minutes of waiting by the shore for the dark matter to appear, flashing through the waves, and X33N swallowed down his fear as he reached out towards it. _It won’t hurt me,_ he convinced himself. _It would have attacked me already if it was dangerous._

As soon as X33N’s fingers brushed the dark matter it snaked around his hand, vanishing into his skin without a sound. X33N gasped and jumped away from the water, flipping his arm up to watch, powerless, as it spread through his veins but left no trace behind, just blue lines beneath his skin that appeared completely ordinary. Heart pounding, X33N wasn’t sure how to react. Had he just doomed himself? Was he going to die? He was so preoccupied with this turn of events that he failed to notice the shadows slinking away at the edge of his vision, widening his field of view.

He wanted to go home. At home, he knew what everything was - what would hurt him and what wouldn’t - and he had _friends._ Family, too. This world might have been fascinating had he not been so trapped and alone. He wanted to escape - though if that wasn’t possible, he would even just take a friend. Distraught, X33N curled up in his cave and wept.

* * *

A tiny beam of light pierced through the fog, burning spots into X33N’s vision. He held up his hand to shade his eyes from it and slowly moved towards the shoreline, where the light was coming from. _What the hell?_ He hadn’t seen anything like this in the whole… month, maybe, that he had been in this world. Light… there was no light here. It actually scared him, strange as it might have been. Something was urging him not to go near it.

Then a scream cut through the air and X33N was knocked to the ground as a weight fell on top of him, crushing him into the sand. X33N cried out, surprised, and a bolt of fear shot through his mind, activating his fight or flight response and sending him into a panic. He tried to sit up and force the weight from his back, but it fought him back down. X33N looked over his shoulder, craning his neck to try and see what had fallen on top of him, and he was greeted with-

“X33N?!” a familiar voice exclaimed. KaraCorvus blinked back at X33N, her eyes wide. “What the- where are we, what’s going on, and how did you get here?” she demanded.

“I don’t know, I don’t know, and through a wormhole,” X33N responded dryly, his face still mashed into the sand. “Can you get off of me, please?” he asked in the same tone, feeling oddly annoyed. Yes, he’d asked for a friend, but having Kara literally fall out of the sky on top of him had not been what he had expected nor wanted. Not that Kara wasn’t great, it was just the falling on top of him that he had an issue with.

“Oh, yeah, sorry, X33N,” Kara replied, scrambling off of his back and moving to sit on the sand. “I fell through a wormhole-looking thing as well. How long have you been here?” X33N joined her, tugging down the sleeves of his hoodie. He’d had no reason to be self-conscious before, but now he didn’t want Kara to notice if anything was off since the dark matter incident. She would just ask questions that he didn’t have the answer to.

“About a month, I think,” X33N told her. “There’s no day or night here, so it all jumbles together, but if a day is twenty-four hours… then about a month, I’d say.” He hoped he was wrong and that it had only been a few days, but Kara just nodded.

“That lines up,” Kara commented. “You’ve… X33N, you’ve been missing for a month. Nobody knows what happened to you- except me, now, I guess.” Kara folded her arms over her chest, looking dejected. “I’m guessing by that you haven’t made it home yet that there’s no way back?”

X33N sighed and shook his head sadly. “Not as far as I can tell. Just water, sand, and some caves. Oh, and this weird dark energy. Don’t touch it,” he warned.

Kara gaped at him. “Did _you_ touch it?” she asked, and X33N knew that he couldn’t lie to her, not if they wanted to work together to get home.

“I think it’s the only reason I’m not dead,” X33N murmured. “I must have absorbed some when I fell. I don’t need to eat, nor drink, nor… anything else, really. I shouldn’t be alive right now.” He cleared his throat, trying to change the subject. “Anyway, if you can help it, don’t go near the stuff. I have no idea what the long-term effects are, but I guess we’ll find out at some point.” X33N attempted a reassuring smile, but it fell short.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Kara responded. “Speaking of food, is there anything…”

“Nothing,” X33N interjected before she could finish. “When I said there was nothing but water, sand, and caves, I meant it. I haven’t seen a single plant or animal this entire time. It’s just… empty.” He sighed. “It’s really lonely. I… I begged the universe for a friend, and I suppose it must have heard me.”

Kara’s expression softened for a moment and she put a hand on X33N’s shoulder. “Well, I’m here now, and we can start trying to work together to get home, or at least explore wherever we are now.” Kara glanced around. “Even though you’re immortal now or whatever, I still need food, as far as I can tell.”

“Right. That’s… going to be a problem,” X33N said, scratching the back of his head. “Like I said, this place is completely barren. There’s nothing to even make a raft with, otherwise I’d go in search of another place to live.” X33N sighed again. He’d been doing a lot of that since Kara had arrived.

“I’ll be fine,” Kara assured him quickly. “There has to be something. Maybe you just weren’t desperate enough. And if all else fails, maybe you can use your new magic to make a fruit tree or something,” she joked. “It’ll be okay, X33N.”

X33N frowned. “I know you were joking, but… it’s worth a shot, isn’t it?” he proposed. “I haven’t tried it, so how would I know if my… how would I know if it expanded beyond being- being immortal.” He didn’t like talking about it. Acknowledging it made it irreversibly real. There was no chance that this was just a dream anymore - he was really trapped in another dimension, gone without a trace from his home.

Kara yawned and replied, “You’re welcome to try that while I get some sleep. It was a really long day, and getting dumped into another world has just made it feel longer. Where have you been staying?”

X33N stood up and offered Kara a hand to help her up. She took it and he pulled her to her feet. With a pang, X33N realized that he hadn’t slept in the entire month he’d been in this strange world. “In a cave not far from here,” he answered. “It’s not going to be the most comfortable, so if you want to sleep here on the beach instead I could keep watch and make sure nothing-”

Sounding uneasy, Kara cut him off. “I’ll take the cave, X33N. Just lead the way,” she directed.

X33N nodded, turned around, and started to walk up the beach. He was grateful to have company, but at the same time, knowing that the dark energy had changed him, knowing that this was all real, knowing that his family and friends were missing him… it was more painful than before.

* * *

“Kara,” X33N panted, stumbling into the cave that they were now sharing. “Kara, wake up, I’ve got something to show you.” He staggered over to where she was tucked against the wall, her eyes closed. Somehow, he was able to sense that she was only feigning sleep. “Kara!”

“I probably should have taken the beach,” Kara groaned, turning to look at him. “I haven’t slept at all. What did you find?”

“I didn’t _find_ anything,” X33N said proudly, “I _made_ something. Come see!” Little victories were all he had, and this was certainly one. X33N grabbed Kara’s wrist and helped her up, then tugged her towards the mouth of the cave. “I was sitting on the beach, thinking about what you and I were talking about, and I managed to…” X33N took a deep breath and stopped, directing Kara’s attention down to the tiny sprout poking through the sand. “Kara, I made a plant!”

“You- what- how did you _do_ that?” Kara breathed, kneeling next to the seedling. “You just… you created something out of nothing?”

“I just sort of… willed it into existence,” X33N explained. “I have no idea how it’s possible, but… it’s there. There is now a plant. I made a plant. Kara, I have _powers,_ and I actually _did something with them.”_ He sounded stunned because he was - he hadn’t expected it to work, nevermind the sprout not immediately die in this harsh environment.

“X33N, are you a god?” Kara asked suddenly, looking over her shoulder and up at him.

X33N blinked. “What?” he questioned. “I don’t… why would you… I really…” X33N stammered, trying to figure out how to reply to Kara’s question.

“You’re immortal and you created life out of nothing,” Kara said. “That’s pretty god-like, X33N.” She looked back down at the sprout. “Could you try to make it grow faster? I’m not hungry or anything, I just want to see if you can.” Kara stood up and stepped back, letting X33N move towards the sprout.

“I’m not a god,” X33N insisted. But it would make sense, wouldn’t it? There was no life here. The only beings that ever existed before life were gods, in every creation myth that X33N had ever heard. He pushed the thought away, not wanting to dwell on it. Instead, he took a knee next to the seedling and glared at it, as he’d done the first time out of frustration. _Grow. Turn into a big tree with lots of fruit. Apples, or something,_ he thought sourly. He probably wasn’t doing it right, but it seemed to work a bit as the sprout twitched and poked further out of the sand. X33N rolled his eyes. “It’s not going to turn into a tree instantly, if that’s what you’re thinking. I’m not a god, this was just coincidence or somethi-”

And then the sprout shot out of the ground, spiralling up to create a thick trunk, branches curling down and becoming adorned with leaves, and apples forming out of nowhere. X33N jumped back, bumping into Kara and causing her to let out a surprised yelp.

“No, you’re definitely a god,” Kara said breathlessly, reaching up to take one of the apples. “I wish I had powers. I wonder what else you can do?” She took a bite out of the apple and looked over at X33N, who was gaping, speechless, at the tree. “Can you fly?”

“How would I know?” X33N shot back. “I didn’t think to try!” He couldn’t believe this. He couldn’t believe _any_ of this.

“Well, try now!” Kara told him, taking another bite. “Man, these apples are great. Must be the godly magic.”

“I’m not a god!” X33N protested. “I can’t be a god! If I was a god, I would be home already!” His hands curled into fists and he looked down at the ground, feeling longing well up in his chest. He was immortal and could make fruit trees, apparently - but he couldn’t do the one thing he wanted most of all.

Kara paused mid-chew. “Alright, then,” she said. “Well, at least now we can stop worrying about the lack of resources. Even if you can only make trees or something, that’s a heck of a lot of wood.” Kara placed a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. “If we work together, I’m sure we can figure out how to get home. We got here, right? Therefore there _must_ be a way back.”

“Yeah.” There was a certain logic to that, X33N had to admit, but he didn’t think it would be that easy. He swore he was living in a fantasy novel - _the hero is thrown into a new world with magic and monsters and must complete a quest to get home_ \- but knowing his luck, it wouldn’t play out as straightforwardly as a story did. “Are these apples really that good?” he asked, reaching out to take one. Without waiting for an answer, he took a bite of the fruit and almost gasped at the taste.

Kara laughed. “The look on your face!” she exclaimed. “I told you they were amazing!” Kara picked a few more and gathered them in her arms. “Let’s take some back to the cave.” After X33N was silent for a few more moments, Kara added, “Was that the first time you’d eaten in a month?”

X33N nodded slowly, staring down at the apple in his hand. It was such a small thing to be the cause of such confusion and inner conflict. “I… I think I need some time to process,” X33N admitted.

“That’s valid,” Kara replied. “I need some time as well. This is all… really something, huh?”

Despite everything, X33N laughed. “That’s one way to put it.”


	2. The Burning Sun

Kara’s voice broke into X33N’s thoughts, making him panic and pull his hoodie sleeves down as dark energy disappeared into his skin. He had been telling Kara that he hadn’t absorbed any more of the dark matter since the first time, but that had been a lie. He just couldn’t help fearing that the side effects would wear off and he would drop dead one day before they could reach home. “Yes, Kara?” he called back lightly, before he turned around and his jaw dropped.

Kara shifted awkwardly and the white feathered wings curling around her shifted as well, drawing X33N’s gaze. “I have wings now,” she stated bluntly.

“I can see that,” X33N replied. “Why do you- no, how do you have wings, Kara?” X33N had a sneaking suspicion that he knew what had happened. He could sense it, almost, as strange as it sounded. “Did you touch any of the dark matter?”

“No!” Kara objected firmly. “I just- well, I was thinking about all the trees and how you seemed to make things, and then I was looking up at the sky and wondering about what this world looked like from up there… and then…” Kara folded her arms around herself and the wings melted away. “X33N, I think I’m like you.”

“Okay.” X33N blinked. “You can help me with the island, then.” He’d started fixing it up since realizing his powers - adding trees and grass, mostly, because he wasn’t confident enough to try any sort of animals yet. His current goal was to build him and Kara a nicer place to live, possibly a treehouse or some sort of cottage if he could manage it, but it was taking a while.

“That’s it? I thought you’d be more shocked,” Kara commented, taking a step towards him. X33N tugged at his hoodie sleeve again.

X33N shrugged. “I honestly don’t think I can be surprised anymore. You having powers like mine is just helpful, really,” he said. “What is this world like from up there, by the way? I haven’t tried flying yet.”

Kara laughed nervously. “I… I didn’t actually go up, I came to show you the wings first,” she admitted. “If it’s alright with you, I think I’ll go out now. Hey, maybe I’ll see some other land that we can investigate as well. Maybe there  _ is _ life out there,” she added hopefully.

X33N didn’t think so. This world felt completely dead. Actually, the more he thought about it, this world seemed more like it had never had life at all. “I don’t mind,” X33N said. “What am I, your chaperone?”

Kara grinned. “I’ll let you know what I see when I get back. This world- man, we really need a better name for this place than ‘this place’ and ‘this world’,” she grumbled.

“The Dark World?” X33N suggested, half-jokingly. “X33N And Kara’s Party Island?” That one wasn’t serious, of course, he just said it to try to make Kara laugh - and it worked. “Or we could just smash our names together and go with that.”

“You want us to name this world after us?” Kara questioned. “What, like Xara or something?”

X33N hummed. “Why not? Xara sounds cool enough, and it’s not like there are other people around to object,” he pointed out.

“Let’s call it Xara, then.” Kara looked at him quizzically. “I know I already said this, but… you seem way too calm about all this.”

X33N shrugged and responded, “It’s a facade,” to which Kara laughed. “I just....” X33N sighed. “I want to go home. So it doesn’t really  _ matter _ what happens here as long as we end up at home in the end, right? Because we can just go back to our usual lives after that, god powers be damned.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Kara admitted. “I’ll see you soon, X33N. Don’t destroy anything while I’m gone.”

* * *

“We need a sun,” Kara declared, jumping down from the tree she had been working in. “These plants are great and all, but nothing’s ever going to grow naturally without a sun. We’d also finally be able to count the days with one.”

For some reason, X33N’s first reaction to the proposition of a giant ball of fiery light in the sky was to flinch away. “Sure,” he replied, hiding his discomfort. He was used to living without sunlight since he’d been in the dark for so long, but it was clear that Kara was missing the light. Honestly, X33N didn’t care that much. “Do you think you can actually make a sun? That seems like a lot of work.”

Kara shrugged, a flower curling into bloom beneath her fingertips. “I don’t see why not,” she replied. “It would be just the same as willing any of these plants into existence. Are you done with your house yet?”

X33N glanced back over his shoulder at where the shack he’d constructed was teetering dangerously. “I think I’m going to keep living in the cave,” X33N said. “I could add a door, fix it up and make it nicer… all that jazz.”

“Suit yourself.” Wings unfurled from Kara’s back, flapping experimentally a few times. “Do you want to come up with me? You haven’t flown yet, and I might need your help.”

“Ah… sure,” X33N murmured. “One second, just let me-” He knew he could probably fly without wings, but X33N (and Kara, apparently) had a flair for the dramatic and liked to show off a bit. He tried to make his wings look like Kara’s, but instead, when he flipped a heavy wing around to look at it - and almost fell over as it knocked him off-balance - he found that it resembled a bat’s wing instead. “Huh.”

“Very spooky,” Kara commented. “Flying is easy, just follow my lead.” And with that, Kara gracefully took off, though she paused a few feet into the air to wait for X33N.

Copying Kara’s movements, X33N beat his new wings a couple of times, trying to get a feel for them, before pushing off the ground and managing to hold himself in the air with his wings. “I’m doing it!” he exclaimed. It was kind of… fun, actually. The most fun he’d had since falling.

“Come on!” Kara called back, starting to move again and heading higher into the sky. X33N bit his lip in concentration and followed her, the wind starting to whip through his hair as he picked up speed. X33N was grateful that bugs didn’t exist yet because otherwise, he would have spent the entire time worrying about flying into them.

They broke through the atmosphere faster than X33N expected, and though he could feel his air supply hit zero, he knew not to worry. X33N was able to stop flapping his wings and just let himself float, looking around at the void around them. It wasn’t space, not yet - X33N wasn’t sure how he knew, but he did - just pure nothingness. Looking back down at the grey tones of the planet they had left, X33N gulped. He could pinpoint every detail, still - their island and every other landmass on the surface - even through the atmosphere and the fog. Originally, the claims that he and Kara were the gods of this world had been jokes, the word used because they didn’t have a better one, but with this view, X33N was inclined to believe it.

“Let’s hope I don’t vaporize everything,” Kara said, stretching her arms over her head. X33N didn’t know how he could hear her in the void, but he didn’t have anybody to ask, so he simply filed it away under the ever-growing category of ‘weird stuff’ in his brain. “I suggest looking away? I’m going to close my eyes too, because we’ve been down there in the dark for so long that standing next to the sun might blind us or something.”

X33N didn’t think so, but he decided to take her advice anyway. He spun back around to face the planet -  _ Xara _ \- and closed his eyes, using his wings to keep himself steady. A few long moments passed before X33N saw light through his eyelids and he thought, _ she really did it. _

Then pain blossomed across his wings and back, a fierce burning sensation that made him cry out, and the only thought in X33N’s mind was escaping. He seemed to know what to do instinctively as he threw himself forward, a feeling similar to what he had experienced when falling through the portal that had brought him to this world in the first place overcoming him, and X33N smacked directly into a familiar stone wall. The pain was lesser as he opened his eyes, the dark of his cave a reassurance. He’d just teleported. X33N shoved the thought away and instead chose to focus on the stinging burns blistering across his skin - no new ones were forming now that he was away from the sunlight, but the ones that had already formed hurt like hell. X33N’s wings vanished, taking away some of the pain, but the rest of the wounds were not so easily healed. Shadows wrapped around X33N like a comforting blanket, cold against his burns, and he sat, shaking and breathing heavily, in the back of the cave, a dark expression on his face.

Kara appeared a few minutes later, tentative, at the mouth of the cave. “X33N?” she called lightly, though X33N could sense her apprehension, and her fear stabbed his heart like an icy knife. “X33N, are you okay?”

“No,” X33N growled, baring his teeth in an almost animalistic expression of pain and anger. He felt unstable, as if his power was outside his control as it tried to protect him. Kara took a step towards him and he snarled, “Stay back!” and tried to push himself further against the wall. “Stay- Kara, don’t. Kara, I can’t-”

“X33N…?” Kara whispered, her eyes wide. “X33N, you don’t look good. Your teeth- your eyes-” She ignored what he had told her and started to move forward again, making X33N just shake more.

X33N squeezed his eyes shut, trying desperately to reign his power back in and not lash out at Kara unintentionally, but he was still in excruciating pain and was struggling greatly. “Kara, I’m going to tell you one more time,” he muttered darkly, somehow managing to make his voice ring clear. “Get away from me or else I might hurt you by accident.”

“X33N, I want to help you. You wouldn’t attack me - I’m your friend.” Step. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.” Another step. “We can fix this.”

She took the last step and X33N’s mind flipped into overdrive, screaming to him that she was too close and that she was going to burn him again. He opened his eyes just in time to see shadowy tendrils reach across the cave and viciously shove Kara out, back into the sunlight, and a dark web spread across the mouth of the cave, barring her from entering again. X33N was able to lock eyes with her before the between parts of the web became fully opaque, watching her fall back onto the sand and stare at him with hurt in her eyes.

Horrified, X33N curled in on himself, pulling his legs up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. He appreciated his power trying to protect him, he really did… but Kara was a friend. He should have been able to control himself. X33N cursed under his breath. Things just kept getting worse and worse.

* * *

It was nighttime when he finally emerged from the cave, noting the newfound existence of a moon as well. X33N could sense Kara’s presence in her house, a simple treehouse not far from his cave, and anxiously he croaked out, “Kara?”

Kara appeared at her window, peering down to look at him. “X33N! Are you alright?” she asked. “I didn’t want to provoke you again, so I was just working on a few things and-”

“I’m okay,” X33N answered, cutting her off. “I’m sorry if I hurt you. I didn’t- I didn’t mean to.” He folded his arms over his chest in a loose hug.

Kara vanished from her window and reappeared in front of him. “I think we’ve learned an important lesson today,” Kara said. “Maybe we can use magic to protect you from the sun. You shouldn’t have to hide out in a cave all day, not if we’re going to be trying to get back home.”

“I… I had an idea,” X33N started. “I could make some sort of cloak out of darkness, and as long as I don’t look directly up it should protect me. It didn’t burn when the shadows pushed you out of the cave, after all, so it might be worth a shot.” X33N sighed. “I just wish I understood why I got burned and you didn’t.”

“Dark matter?” Kara suggested, and X33N’s head snapped up. “You’re the only one that touched it and you’re the only one that has weird shadow powers and gets burned by the sun.” Kara paused. “Though it could always be that we’re gods of different things - like in Greek mythology, how each god has a different domain and all that. Maybe you’re the god of darkness and shadow or something.”

Grateful that Kara wasn’t pressing the dark matter subject, X33N replied, “That sounds really sinister, I don’t want to be called that.”

“God of night, then?” Kara proposed. Then she sighed. “I don’t know. I don’t even know if we really  _ are _ gods, or if this is just how people are in this world- Xara.” Kara kicked a rock over the ground, looking annoyed. “I wish there was someone around to explain things to us. Everything here is so confusing and…”

“...overwhelming?” X33N finished, to which Kara nodded. “I feel the same. I’ve ascended past peak stress into the ultimate calm.” His lips twitched up into a smile. “Could we at least get, like, a next step or something? Oh, what I wouldn’t give for a video game objective screen right now.”

Kara snickered. “Well, we’ve got plants, and a day-night cycle. I think animals are next, then. And maybe humans? Though that could end up being a disaster.”

“You made a sun without vaporizing the entire world, so I think it should be fine,” X33N said. “Probably.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, X33N,” Kara replied, rolling her eyes. “You get working on your spooky vampire cloak thing and I’ll work on animals. You know. Priorities.”

“I’m not a vampire and it’s not spooky,” X33N protested, “it’s  _ practical.” _

“Sure, sure.” Kara waved her hand dismissively.

* * *

“Today’s the day,” X33N declared, looking out over the forested mainland. Humans. That was their goal for the day - or at least they were going to start working today. X33N glanced over at Kara, who was standing on the hill next to him. The sun beat down on both of them, but with the third version of his shadow cloak wrapped around his shoulders, replacing his old hoodie, X33N was unharmed.

“It is,” Kara agreed. “People means followers-” she started, reminding X33N of their thoughts.

“-followers means power, power means opening a portal to get back home. Yep. I’ve got it, Kara,” X33N finished. “It feels…” he sighed, “...it feels weird, but we haven’t exactly got anything else to go off of.”

“It feels like we’re using real people for our own agenda?” Kara murmured, saying what X33N had been too nervous to. “Yeah, I know. But like you said, we don’t have another option, and while we’re here we can help them as much as we can.” Kara paused. “There aren’t really gods like us back home and humanity turned out alright, right?”

“People are going to yell at you for saying that,” X33N pointed out jokingly.

“You know what I mean,” Kara responded, playfully hitting X33N on the shoulder. “And besides, you’re the only one that heard me.” Kara hopped down from the hill, feathered wings unfurling from her back to help her glide down to the ground. “Come on, X33N, let’s get started.”

X33N, knowing that his wings would just burn in the sunlight, opted to teleport down, meeting Kara at the edge of the dark oak forest. “I design it, you bring it to life?” he suggested. “If you want to work together like we said.”

“Sounds good,” Kara replied. “I’ll add some more animals and plants around here while you’re working on that.” And with that, Kara disappeared into the forest.

An hour later, Kara returned to find X33N peering quizzically at his magically-crafted clay person. “He looks familiar,” X33N told her as she moved to join him, “but I can’t figure out why.”

Kara stared at the clay man for a few long moments before she exclaimed loudly, “Oh, he looks like Jordan!”

X33N’s eyebrows furrowed. He didn’t think that was who he had been thinking of, but he had to admit she had a point. “Does he?” X33N replied lightly. He paused, then added, “I think he’s too tall to be Jordan.”

Kara snorted a laugh. “Yeah, no, you’re right,” Kara said. “Besides, that would be really weird. ‘Hey, Sparklez, we modelled the first human after you.’ Can’t even begin to imagine how  _ that _ conversation would go.”

“Ha ha.” X33N rolled his eyes. “If you screw this up and I have to start over I’m going to be furious.”

“What, gonna strangle me with your creepy tentacle things?” Kara shot back.

“Don’t test me,” X33N warned, his tone more serious than he had intended.

There was a pause. “X33N, I was just joking,” Kara said, a hint of nervousness in her voice.

“Yeah, me too,” X33N assured her. He shrugged. “Well, let’s get on with this.” He tried to ignore the spike of fear he felt from Kara. He had been kidding. He would never hurt Kara on purpose, but it was valid for Kara to be a bit nervous - after all, the sun incident was still fresh on both of their minds.

* * *

They were sitting in Kara’s treehouse, blinds pulled down over all the windows so that X33N could sit comfortably. They were taking a well-earned break over coffee, which neither of them had had in… months? X33N had started to completely lose track of time. He wondered what was going on back home, with both of them missing for so long.

“I think we should move,” X33N murmured, setting his coffee down on the wood. “The gods living on an easily-discoverable island is not a great game plan, if I’m being honest. We want to be harder to find - it’ll add to the godly ambiance.”

Kara blinked at him. “Alright,” she replied. “What do you propose?”

X33N cleared his throat. “I want to live underground,” he admitted. “There’s no sun there - I could just wander around, being me, without fear of pain or discovery.”

Kara shifted awkwardly. “I was going to say on top of a mountain - then everybody could know where we live but trekking up there would be a huge deal,” she said. “I didn’t really think about the sun thing - sorry, X33N.”

“It’s fine,” X33N responded hurriedly. “Maybe you could live on top of the mountain and I could live underneath it. Best for both of us, right? And then we can have our independence but never be too far.”

“Getting sick of me already?” Kara joked lightly, leaning back against the wall. “I’m kidding. I can vibe with that. I’m thinking open air style, like those old Greek parthenons. There will be no rain on top of  _ my _ mountain.”

X33N snickered. “What did rain ever do to you, Ms. Goddess of the Light?” he teased, a grin splitting his face.

“Oh, is that title official now?” Kara scoffed. “I thought that was just what the mortals were throwing around after they heard I created the sun.”

_ “Mortals,” _ X33N repeated. “God, we sound pretentious as hell.” He snorted. “What, are you not okay with being the epitome of purity and sacrilege?”

Kara whacked him on the arm with her palm. “It’s the most accurate way of putting it!” she exclaimed. “We’re immortal, they’re mortal, that’s how words work, X33N.” She lifted her chin. “And for the record, I am perfectly fine with being the goddess of the light.”

“Yeah, but then that makes me the god of the dark and everybody knows those sorts of titles either belong to the bad guy or the guy who got the short end of the stick. I don’t want to be either!” X33N objected.

“You’ve already got the creepy shadow vibe and the spooky vampire aesthetic,” Kara pointed out, gesturing to his dark clothes and pointed fangs that had been slowly getting longer as time passed. X33N had bitten his tongue just an hour earlier and it had been one of the worst experiences of his life. “You’d be a perfect god of the dark. And just because people call you that doesn’t mean that you have to fit into the stereotypes. You can always look spooky but then just, I don’t know, pull pranks or something. Do whatever you want, nobody can tell you what you can or can’t do.”

X33N sighed. “I guess you’re right. It just feels… sinister.” Part of him almost  _ wanted _ to claim the title, to freak people out without causing any real harm. But most of him just wanted to ignore all the semantics and continue with his and Kara’s plan to get home.

Kara patted him on the shoulder, a jokingly condescending expression on her face. “I promise that I will not tell the mortals anything about the notorious X33N, god of the night and the shadows.”

X33N stared at her, his expression disgruntled. “Thanks, Kara,” he drawled sarcastically. “Glad to know that you have my back.”


	3. The Darkness' Curse

“They like you better than me,” X33N sighed, poking at his food with his fork. He wasn’t hungry. He was never hungry these days. “I told you not to spread shitty rumours about me.” It was the middle of the night and Kara’s pavilion was deserted, giving them the space to eat a meal and talk. They hadn’t been doing much of that since Kara had become busier.

Kara bristled. “I haven’t been spreading shitty rumours about you,” she protested. “I’m not happy with the- with the name they’re giving me either.” Kara leaned back in her chair, tilting her head slightly.

X33N snorted. “Even if they misheard me making fun of you, ‘Angrec’ is still a hell of a lot better than ‘the Darkness’,” he replied pointedly. “And they’re terrified of me. I haven’t even done anything.”

“I mean…” Kara bit her lip. “X33N, you’ve sort of lost your tact.” She sighed.

X33N squinted at her. “What do you mean?” he inquired.

“I know you’re just trying to have fun with the titles they give you and joke around, but I don’t think you’ve realized that they--the humans--don’t realize you’re joking,” Kara said. “When you joke about ‘destroying them with your spooky magic powers’, they think you’re serious.” She hesitated. “That’s why they’re scared of you.”

“Oh.” X33N poked at his food again. “Oops.” He paused. “Should I… try to reconnect with them?”

“It might be too late, but… I’m worried about you, X33N, so yes, I think you should,” Kara answered. “Staying in your cave all the time and moping can’t be good for you.”

“It’s bright out,” X33N whined. “And it’s hot. Plus, everybody doesn’t like me anyway, so-”

“They would like you more if you were around more often.” Kara rolled her eyes. “You are deliberately missing the point.”

“No, no, I got the point, I’m being deliberately  _ annoying,” _ X33N replied. “There’s a difference.” He waved his fork in her direction. “It’s been ages since I’ve been able to bother you.” He huffed. “I will  _ try _ to get the people to like me again. With my… super appealing darkness powers.”

Kara sighed again. “I know you feel like you’ve got the short end of the stick and that you’re being cast as the villain, and I understand, but-”

“No, you don’t.” X33N stood up abruptly, looking down at her with a fierce glare. “You don’t understand. You’re perfect and beautiful and everybody loves you and you... you can’t  _ possibly _ understand how I feel,  _ Angrec.” _

Kara froze. “What did you just call me?” she asked quietly, a sad look crossing her face.

“You say that I’ve changed,” X33N continued, ignoring her question. “No.  _ You’ve _ changed. And you’re trying to change me with you, but I don’t… I want to go  _ home. _ And so did you--but now you’re- you’re  _ happy _ here, as Angrec.” X33N fell silent for a moment, hesitant. “Stop trying to make me be happy here, too. I’ll never be happy as the Darkness.”

“We’re not going to get home, X33N!” Kara stood up as well, the dull glow from her skin reflecting annoyingly off of her armour into X33N’s eyes as she moved. “We’re not powerful enough to get home and we never will be. It’s  _ impossible.” _

“We got here somehow, there must be a way back!” X33N objected. “While you’re- while you’re playing around with your human followers,  _ I’m _ going to keep going. You don’t believe we can be powerful enough… well, maybe you can’t, but  _ I _ will be. And if you’re so happy here, then I won’t bring you with me.” He paused. “You’re telling me that you’re just going to  _ give up _ on all your friends? Your family? Your community?”

“X33N… X33N, it’s been a thousand years,” Kara told him. “Even if we could go back, there’s nothing to go back to. And I understand staying hopeful, but X33N… this is insanity.”

“You won’t be calling it insanity when I make it home and you don’t.” It stung his heart, the thought of leaving Kara behind. He wouldn’t actually--at this point, he was just so desperate for her help that he’d threaten anything. X33N turned away, cloak shifting loosely around his shoulders and over his armour. “I see how it is.”

Kara took a step forward and reached out to him, but he shrugged her away. “X33N-”

“You be Angrec, I’ll be the Darkness. We play our roles. I gather power, you try to stop me. But  _ I’m _ the good guy.  _ You’re _ the one being obstinate and giving up on me and our world!” X33N lifted his hands as if speaking to a phantom audience. Kara was still staring at him.

“It doesn’t have to be like this,” Kara pleaded, moving up beside him so that they could look at each other. “It’s not too late. You can change your story, you can work with me, we can make this world good and if we eventually find a way home, that’s great, but you can’t dedicate your life to this-”

“No. You don’t want me to dedicate my life to this,” X33N replied. “Because you want my help pleasing those stupid humans as a benevolent god, doing parlor tricks and answering prayers about trivial nothingness. So we stand against each other.”

“We don’t have to be enemies, either, we really don’t, X33N,” Kara protested. “You’re deluding yourself, you think this whole thing is black and white, light and dark, good and evil, when it’s really not-”

“I swear, if you give me some bullshit about people being shades of grey, I’m going to snap,” X33N growled, his voice low and dark.

Kara hesitated as if she were about to speak, then fell quiet. “Do what you have to do,” she murmured. “But if you hurt any of my people, I will be forced to stop you.”

“Then that’s how it will be,” X33N replied. He swept his hood over his head and moved to the edge of the pavilion. “Goodbye, Angrec.”

Kara hung her head. “Darkness… I hope you find peace.”

And then X33N was gone, never to return as a friend.

* * *

The town was supposed to be full of people. X33N was supposed to enter unnoticed. And yet things never went as they were supposed to. Someone caught a glimpse of him before he managed to disguise himself, and then the game was over before it had started. X33N simply sighed and gave up, then, deciding that if they were going to fear him, they might as well fear his real face.

So when X33N strode into the village, it was with his hood up to shade his face from the sun, but his chin lifted, and with the snake-like coils of dark smoke curling off of him, his identity was distinct. His brown eyes had long since turned a light green that gleamed wickedly in the light and burned fiercely in the dark, and when he ran his tongue over his teeth they felt sharper than they should have been, though that could have been his imagination. A scimitar hung on his belt, though it was mostly because X33N was still handier with a sword than his powers. He knew he could use them offensively, but before this point, he’d been actively avoiding it. Now, he couldn’t care less.

Doors slammed and shutters fell as he passed, his mere presence causing the mortals to flee in fear. He could feel a few eyes on his back, but that wasn’t what he was here for. X33N was looking for someone. And he would find him.

The priest’s house was at the end of the street, a small yet nice cottage. The blinds were drawn, but not out of fear… no, to everyone else, the priest was in some state of mourning. But X33N knew the truth. He knew what Kara had done. That was what he was here to fix.

Darkness did not knock when he entered the house, the door slamming open without him even having to touch it. His eyes narrowed, taking in the dark space lit with small candles and the suffocating smell of incense. “Priest,” he growled, voice resonating around the house and shaking the walls with the force of it. “Did you think you could hide from me?”

The priest shuffled into view, his ginger hair and beard frizzy and matted. “I have done nothing wrong,” he said quietly, inclining his head, “but if you must take out your anger on me, Darkness, spare my son, please.” The priest’s son was still a boy, who was supposed to have died in an unfortunate accident. X33N had heard the man’s prayers to save his child and ignored them. Kara had not. And now the priest’s son was alive and well, hidden in this house until he was strong enough to appear publicly again.

“Your son.” X33N’s face was dark and furious. “Your son should be dead. What did you give her, to save him? How much did you sacrifice?” He knew the answer. And that was why he was there. “Nothing,” he said before the priest could answer. “You paid nothing for this… this great  _ blessing _ the gods have bestowed upon you. And so I am here to collect your due, priest.” X33N kicked the door shut, casting the house back into shadow.

“I don’t have much, sir, I’m not sure what I can give you-” the priest stammered, looking small and fearful.

X33N narrowed his eyes. “You may have your son for one year. One year more, the two of you will be together. Then, his true nature will be revealed--an undead monster, remembering nothing of his human life. And  _ you… _ you will be cursed to live forever with him, never able to be his father again, sharing your story as a warning to those who go after. Accept the gifts of the Light, and the Darkness will turn them into curses.” Magic crackled between his fingers and through his eyes as he backed the priest further into the house, looming over him with a terrible presence. “Do you understand me?”

“I-I do,” the priest whispered. He hesitated as X33N turned to leave, then asked, “With all due respect… why are you doing this?” He took a deep breath and continued, with more confidence. “What is your quarrel with the Light’s work?”

X33N stopped. “You shouldn’t get shit for free,” he said slowly. “Especially not life. We’re gods, yeah, so we can do whatever we want, but there are  _ limits. _ Life shouldn’t be played around with and handed out like candies at a fair. Your son died. He should be dead. That’s how the world works.” As he stepped towards the door, willing it open again, he added, “One year, Declan.”

* * *

“What did you do?!” Kara roared, bursting through the immense dark oak doors that barred the way into X33N’s underground fortress. “I said there would be repercussions if you hurt any of my people. I warned you-”

“I hurt nobody,” X33N hissed, forming out of the shadows next to Kara, his skin an unappealing grey in the minimal lighting. “In fact, neither of them are able to be hurt now. You should be thanking me.”

_ “Thanking _ you?” Kara was seething, the pale glow that usually emanated from her skin turning to a harsh white light that forced X33N to squint and look away. “Why would I thank you for cursing my priest?”

“You brought back his son!” X33N spat, moving around to the raised dais at the end of the hall. “You can’t just hand out life like gifted subs or some shit. There are stakes here. These are real people you’re playing around with!”

Kara narrowed her eyes at him, striding across the room towards his only partially corporeal form. “Since when have you cared about these people?” she countered. “Since when were they anything more than tools for you to reach your end goal?”

“We created them  _ together, _ in case you forgot,” X33N replied. The angrier he got, the more he was pulled back into the shadows, to a point where it was hard to see where the darkness started and his body began. “I’m not heartless.”

“You say that you care about them and then you curse two of  _ our _ people to a horrible undeath.” Kara stalked across the width of the room, glaring over at X33N with fire in her eyes. “Would it have been so hard for you to let them live their lives?”

X33N closed his eyes and made a pained expression, contemplating his next move. “You’ll never understand me,” he muttered darkly. “All this could have been avoided if you had just stayed out of my way.” X33N clenched his hands into fists, feeling rage thrum in his heart. 

“Don’t,” came Kara’s voice in the void behind X33N’s eyelids. “Whatever you’re thinking of doing, don’t.”

“You don’t control me,” X33N growled. “I don’t answer to you.” He felt and heard the sound of the great oak doors slamming shut, throwing the fortress into darkness. He slowly opened his eyes, vibrant slits of emerald that burned through the shadows.

Kara was standing in the centre of the hall, her light slowly dimming, as if it were being suffocated by X33N’s shade. There was fear in her eyes. She took a step back, footsteps loud on the polished blackstone floor. Kara said nothing, just stared at him.

“Will you stand down?” X33N demanded. “Will you let me get us home?”

“You know I can’t,” Kara replied quietly. “But please, you know we don’t have to be enemies, X3-”

“You don’t get to call me that anymore.” X33N slowly moved towards her, smoky tendrils curling across the floor with him. “I thought we were past this point.”

Kara’s hand twitched towards the knife on her belt. She was scared of him. Good. “You wouldn’t hurt me, old friend,” she whispered. “Even though we are on opposite sides… you wouldn’t hurt me.” Uncertainty made her voice shiver. X33N couldn’t hear her thoughts, but he knew what she was thinking.  _ Would he? _

“You’re in my way,” was all X33N said before he leapt forward, extending his hand out to direct the shadows towards Kara.  _ Capture her. _ The thought sounded foreign, as if it didn’t belong to him, but he didn’t stop to consider it.

Kara drew her knife and it burned with a blinding light, making X33N hiss and flinch away. She sliced through the shadows that reached for her, then her eyes found X33N. “I will not fight you,” Kara said. She dropped her sword-arm to her side and lifted her chin in defiance.

“You must,” X33N replied lowly. “If you care about your people, then you must stop me from capturing you.” He flexed his fingers and summoned his own blade, a wicked scimitar forged from netherite and pure darkness, gold inlaid in the hilt for no particular reason other than X33N liked the way it looked. X33N raised it over his head and sliced it down, the force of the impact against the ground tossing Kara back towards the doors.

Kara hit the doors and fell to the ground, knife tumbling from her hand. She clambered to her feet, pure white wings unfurling from her back to help her up. She was a bitter white moon on a starless sky, fighting back darkness all alone. Kara reached for her knife and so did the dark smoke, trying to get it away from her, but she got to it first, snatching the blade from the ground with a fluid swipe.

X33N stalked forward, his own wings springing from his back, but in a continuation of her movement, Kara spun the knife and hurled it directly at her opponent. The silver blade cut through the growing shadows and struck X33N directly in the chest. He howled in pain, the burn of pure light in his flesh almost unbearable, and staggered back. Kara summoned a new blade, a longsword of dazzling glamour, and readied herself to fight once more.

At that moment, X33N only had one clear emotion, and it was  _ rage. _ He yanked the knife from his chest and tossed it aside, where darkness quickly swallowed it. Then, gathering all his power, he flew towards Kara and attacked.

An earth-shattering boom erupted from where their might collided, throwing both of them back with unimaginable force. When X33N hit the far wall it cracked, and he closed his eyes against the cold purple light that emanated from where they had fought. Smoke, but not the dark kind, spread to the corners of the room, blocking X33N’s view of Kara. He didn’t know what was happening. 

As the smoke and ringing in X33N’s ears subsided, he saw three figures--one of darkness and two of light--in the centre of the hall. Their quarrelling and fighting had brought forth new life, and X33N blinked as he recognized them from something he’d been part of so long ago, in another world. Mianite, Dianite, and Ianite. The three gods of order, chaos, and balance.

“It can’t be,” X33N murmured. “That’s not possible.” He slowly got to his feet, staring at the young gods and goddess. “These isles… these people…”

A vision flashed through his mind. The priest…  _ Declan… _ and his son, Thomas… the future of this world was clouded, but of one thing X33N was certain.

This was the Realm of Mianite.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First update of 2021, woohoo! I've had this unfinished chapter sitting in my Docs for, like, 2 months now, but I finally got it done :D

**Author's Note:**

> If you made it all the way through this chapter, good job! I know this is a very strange concept and a sort of cliche opening, but I have a lot of plans for this story. I think it's going to be about 10-12 chapters - nowhere near as long as my other multichaps. Anyway, hope you enjoy :D


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